1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink cartridge and, more particularly to an ink cartridge having an inner chamber in which a porous member is received and an outer chamber for storage with a higher quantity of ink.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, ink-jet type recording apparatus use liquid ink to print recording data. Particularly, an ink-jet type recording apparatus employs an ink cartridge that supplies ink contained therein to the recording head. The ink cartridge is directly connected to the recording head through the use of an ink supply needle mounted on the recording head. Ink is delivered by utilizing a pressure difference between the ink in the recording head and the ink in the cartridge, and by capillary forces.
With reference to FIG. 1, the ink cartridge 1a for the recording head including a housing 10a that contains an ink porous member 11a is known from a commonly prior art. The ink supply needle of the recording head extends into the interior of the housing 10a and locally compresses the ink porous member 11a. It is assumed that this local compression increases the capillary forces of the ink porous member 11a around the ink supply needle, so that the ink content of the ink porous member 11a can be used more completely.
In the configuration of the ink cartridge, the ink porous member 11a is completely accommodated in an inner space of the ink cartridge to absorb the ink. Thus, it is demanded that the filling be done efficiently so that the ink can reach to the corners inside the porous member 11a. However, the ink porous member 11a has an outline size substantially equal to that of the inner space of the ink cartridge thereby occupying the partial space that can be filled by more ink in the ink cartridge.
Hence, an ink cartridge having an improved housing and porous member is required to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.